Identifying and locating users on a mobile network

ABSTRACT

A system and method of locating “friends” having mobile devices connected to a network and associated with a user account is disclosed. The method includes sending a request to a mobile device, the mobile device determining its present geographic location and responding to the requestor with this information. This information may be in the form of a coordinate location such as a GPS location or it may be in the form of a name that the mobile device owner assigned to a particular area (e.g., “home”). Having this location information, a user is able to view the location of the friend that is associated with the mobile device.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to remotely communicating with a mobiledevice such as a mobile telephone or a media player and morespecifically, to cause a mobile device to perform a function through thetransmission of one or more remote commands.

2. Introduction

Mobile devices have been adapted to a wide variety of applications,including computing, communication, and entertainment. Through recentimprovements, mobile devices can now also determine their geographiclocation by either using a built-in global position system (GPS) antennaor extrapolating its location from the signals it receives through thenetwork of fixed-location cellular antennas. Thus, a user may be able touse the mobile device to determine his or her location.

A mobile device user may wish to have friends or family members know ofhis or her location and likewise, he or she may like to know thelocation of his or her friends or family members. Several known systemsperform such services. However, one drawback of such services is thatdetermining locations, particularly when using GPS devices, may consumea lot of power.

Balancing battery life and mobile device performance is a chief concernfor mobile device makers, and location aware programs are a big part ofthose concerns. Specifically, applications that must make frequentrequests of a GPS device consume a lot of power. Such applicationsinclude mapping programs, and social location aware applications such asFOURSQUARE and GOOGLE LATITUDE, which allow a user to share his locationwith a server so that authorized friends can view the user's location ontheir mobile devices. Frequently, such services require an applicationrunning on the user's mobile device to periodically activate the GPSdevice, learn the user's location, and update the server. Such repeateduse of the GPS device drastically reduces the battery life of the mobiledevice.

SUMMARY

Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be set forthin the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or can be learned by practice of the herein disclosedprinciples. The features and advantages of the disclosure can berealized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinationsparticularly pointed out in the appended claims. These and otherfeatures of the disclosure will become more fully apparent from thefollowing description and appended claims, or can be learned by thepractice of the principles set forth herein.

Disclosed are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readablestorage media for determining the location of one or more mobile devicesconnected to a communications network. The present technology provides asystem for allowing users to learn the location of other users whom havegiven permission to have their location shared. In a preferredembodiment a user can launch an application which allows a user torequest permission from a friend to receive information describing theirlocation. The application can list the friends whom have given theirpermission to a user to view their location information.

When a user desires to see the location of one or more friends, theapplication can request location information for each friend, orselected friends, from a system server. The server can receive andinterpret the request to determine whether the application requiresdetailed location information or approximate location information. Forexample, if the application has requested location information for allfriends, it would be interpreted as a request for only approximateinformation because, among other reasons, displaying all friends on amap on a computer screen only requires approximate locations. However,if the application recently received updated approximate informationregarding a particular friend, but is now requesting additional locationinformation on just that specific friend, it is likely that theapplication requires detailed location information.

The difference in detailed location information versus approximatelocation information is based in not only a threshold of toleratedvariance of the location information but also time since updatedlocation information was received by the server, and the power requiredto learn accurate location information by the friend's device. Forexample, detailed location information might require an accuracy of +/−3m, and with present technology, such accuracy is most often obtainedusing a GPS device. Additionally, detailed location information mightonly be considered accurate for a duration of 1 minute or less. Incontrast, approximate location information may only require a city levelof accuracy (e.g., +/−1 km) and be deemed relevant for up to 15 minutesor more.

A request to locate a friend is processed by a central server. Uponreceiving a request, the server may forward the request to the friend'sdevice and wait for a response. Alternatively, the server may respond tothe request without contacting the friend's device. For example, theserver may have cached location information of the friend's device.Because location information is only relevant at certain accuracies andfor a certain period of time, the server may compare the cachedinformation with the request and/or any predetermined constraints beforesending the cached location information rather than sending a request tothe friend's device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and otheradvantages and features of the disclosure can be obtained, a moreparticular description of the principles briefly described above will berendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which areillustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawingsdepict only exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and are nottherefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the principlesherein are described and explained with additional specificity anddetail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary computing environment;

FIGS. 3 a and 3 b illustrate flow diagrams describing exemplaryprocesses for locating a mobile device;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram describing an exemplary process forlocating a mobile device and updating the location information;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow diagram describing an exemplary process forsending an invitation to a mobile device user to share locationinformation;

FIGS. 6-12 illustrate exemplary user interfaces depicting how a user maylocate friends;

FIGS. 13-15 illustrate exemplary user interfaces depicting how a usermay send to friends invitations to be located;

FIGS. 16-17 illustrate exemplary user interfaces depicting how a usermay receive and respond to an invitation to be located; and

FIGS. 18-20 illustrate exemplary user interfaces depicting how a usermay change his or her location information.

FIGS. 21-24 illustrate exemplary user interfaces depicting how aninvitation to share location information until an expiration time may beconfigured and displayed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the disclosure are discussed in detail below.While specific implementations are discussed, it should be understoodthat this is done for illustration purposes only. A person skilled inthe relevant art will recognize that other components and configurationsmay be used without parting from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

The present disclosure addresses the need in the art for a mechanism fortransmitting location information of a user's mobile device and locatingfriends and family members through their respective mobile devices. Asystem, method and non-transitory computer-readable media are disclosedwhich locate a mobile device by sending a command to the device todetermine its present location and report it back to the requestor. Abrief introductory description of a basic general purpose system orcomputing device in FIG. 1 which can be employed to practice theconcepts is disclosed herein. A more detailed description of the methodsand systems will then follow.

With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system 100 includes ageneral-purpose computing device 100, including a processing unit (CPUor processor) 120 and a system bus 110 that couples various systemcomponents including the system memory 130 such as read only memory(ROM) 140 and random access memory (RAM) 150 to the processor 120. Thesystem 100 can include a cache 122 of high speed memory connecteddirectly with, in close proximity to, or integrated as part of theprocessor 120. The system 100 copies data from the memory 130 and/or thestorage device 160 to the cache 122 for quick access by the processor120. In this way, the cache 122 provides a performance boost that avoidsprocessor 120 delays while waiting for data. These and other modules cancontrol or be configured to control the processor 120 to perform variousactions. Other system memory 130 may be available for use as well. Thememory 130 can include multiple different types of memory with differentperformance characteristics. It can be appreciated that the disclosuremay operate on a computing device 100 with more than one processor 120or on a group or cluster of computing devices networked together toprovide greater processing capability. The processor 120 can include anygeneral purpose processor and a hardware module or software module, suchas module 1 162, module 2 164, and module 3 166 stored in storage device160, configured to control the processor 120 as well as aspecial-purpose processor where software instructions are incorporatedinto the actual processor design. The processor 120 may essentially be acompletely self-contained computing system, containing multiple cores orprocessors, a bus, memory controller, cache, etc. A multi-core processormay be symmetric or asymmetric.

The system bus 110 may be any of several types of bus structuresincluding a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and alocal bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. A basicinput/output (BIOS) stored in ROM 140 or the like, may provide the basicroutine that helps to transfer information between elements within thecomputing device 100, such as during start-up. The computing device 100further includes storage devices 160 such as a hard disk drive, amagnetic disk drive, an optical disk drive, tape drive or the like. Thestorage device 160 can include software modules 162, 164, 166 forcontrolling the processor 120. Other hardware or software modules arecontemplated. The storage device 160 is connected to the system bus 110by a drive interface. The drives and the associated computer readablestorage media provide nonvolatile storage of computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules and other data for thecomputing device 100. In one aspect, a hardware module that performs aparticular function includes the software component stored in anon-transitory computer-readable medium in connection with the necessaryhardware components, such as the processor 120, bus 110, output device170, and so forth, to carry out the function. The basic components areknown to those of skill in the art and appropriate variations arecontemplated depending on the type of device, such as whether the device100 is a small, handheld computing device, a desktop computer, or acomputer server.

Although the exemplary embodiment described herein employs a storagedevice 160, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatother types of computer readable media which can store data that areaccessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memorycards, digital versatile disks, cartridges, random access memories(RAMs) 150, read only memory (ROM) 140, a cable or wireless signalcontaining a bit stream and the like, may also be used in the exemplaryoperating environment. Non-transitory computer-readable storage mediaexpressly exclude media such as energy, carrier signals, electromagneticwaves, and signals per se.

To enable user interaction with the computing device 100, an inputdevice 190 represents any number of input mechanisms, such as amicrophone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphicalinput, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech and so forth. An outputdevice 170 can also be one or more of a number of output mechanismsknown to those of skill in the art. In some instances, multimodalsystems enable a user to provide multiple types of input to communicatewith the computing device 100. The communications interface 180generally governs and manages the user input and system output. There isno restriction on operating on any particular hardware arrangement andtherefore the basic features here may easily be substituted for improvedhardware or firmware arrangements as they are developed.

For clarity of explanation, the illustrative system embodiment ispresented as including individual functional blocks including functionalblocks labeled as a “processor” or processor 120. The functions theseblocks represent may be provided through the use of either shared ordedicated hardware, including, but not limited to, hardware capable ofexecuting software and hardware, such as a processor 120, that ispurpose-built to operate as an equivalent to software executing on ageneral purpose processor. For example the functions of one or moreprocessors presented in FIG. 1 may be provided by a single sharedprocessor or multiple processors. (Use of the term “processor” shouldnot be construed to refer exclusively to hardware capable of executingsoftware.) Illustrative embodiments may include microprocessor and/ordigital signal processor (DSP) hardware, read-only memory (ROM) 140 forstoring software performing the operations discussed below, and randomaccess memory (RAM) 150 for storing results. Very large scaleintegration (VLSI) hardware embodiments, as well as custom VLSIcircuitry in combination with a general purpose DSP circuit, may also beprovided.

The logical operations of the various embodiments are implemented as:(1) a sequence of computer implemented steps, operations, or proceduresrunning on a programmable circuit within a general use computer, (2) asequence of computer implemented steps, operations, or proceduresrunning on a specific-use programmable circuit; and/or (3)interconnected machine modules or program engines within theprogrammable circuits. The system 100 shown in FIG. 1 can practice allor part of the recited methods, can be a part of the recited systems,and/or can operate according to instructions in the recitednon-transitory computer-readable storage media. Such logical operationscan be implemented as modules configured to control the processor 120 toperform particular functions according to the programming of the module.For example, FIG. 1 illustrates three modules Mod1 162, Mod2 164 andMod3 166 which are modules configured to control the processor 120.These modules may be stored on the storage device 160 and loaded intoRAM 150 or memory 130 at runtime or may be stored as would be known inthe art in other computer-readable memory locations.

Having disclosed some components of a computing system, the disclosurenow turns to FIG. 2, which illustrates a general purpose mobilecomputing environment 200. A communication network 210 connects thedevices and applications hosted in the computing environment 200. Inthis computing environment 200, different devices may communicate withand send commands to each other in various ways. The server 230, forexample, may function as an intermediary between two or more userdevices such as, computer 220, mobile device 240, and mobile device 245.The server 230 may pass messages sent from one user device to another.For example, the server 230 may receive a request from device 240 (the“requesting device”) to locate another device 245 (the “requesteddevice”). In response to such a request (preferably after appropriateauthentication and authorization steps have been taken to ensure therequest is authorized by the user of the requested device), the server230 may send a request to the requested device 245 and receive aresponse containing information relating to its location. The requesteddevice 245 may have obtained this location information based on signalsit received from, for example, GPS satellites 260. Having received aresponse, the server 230 may then send the information to the requestingdevice 240. Alternatively, the server 230 does not send a request to therequested device 245 because it has recent location information relatingto the requested device 245 cached. In such an embodiment, the server230 may respond to a request by sending cached location information tothe requesting device 240 without communicating with the requesteddevice 245.

The devices 220, 240, and 245 preferably have one or more location awareapplications that may run on them. Of these applications, some may havethe functionality to send requests to other user devices to enable arequesting user to locate a friend's device. Upon receivingauthorization to locate, a requesting device may then be able to sendlocation requests to requested devices and receive responses containingthe location of the requested device. Authorization is preferablymanaged at the server level, but may also be managed at the device levelin addition or as an alternative.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the communication network 210 can be any typeof network, including a local area network (“LAN”), such as an intranet,a wide area network (“WAN”), such as the internet, or any combinationthereof. Further, the communication network 210 can be a public network,a private network, or a combination thereof. The communication networkcan also be implemented using any type or types of physical media,including wired communication paths and wireless communication pathsassociated with one or more service providers. Additionally, thecommunication network 210 can be configured to support the transmissionof messages formatted using a variety of protocols.

A device such as a user station 220 may also be configured to operate inthe computing environment 200. The user station 220 can be any generalpurpose computing device that can be configured to communicate with aweb-enabled application, such as through a web browser. For example, theuser station 220 can be a personal computing device such as a desktop orworkstation, or a portable computing device, such as a laptop a smartphone, or a post-pc device. The user station 220 can include some or allof the features, components, and peripherals of computing device 100 ofFIG. 1.

User station 220 can further include a network connection to thecommunication network 210. The network connection can be implementedthrough a wired or wireless interface, and can support bi-directionalcommunication between the user station 220 and one or more othercomputing devices over the communication network 210. Also, the userstation 220 may include an interface application, such as a web browseror custom application, for communicating with a web-enabled application.

An application server 230 can also be configured to operate in thecomputing environment 200. The application server 230 can be anycomputing device that can be configured to host one or moreapplications. For example, the application server 230 can be a server, aworkstation, or a personal computer. In some implementations, theapplication server 230 can be configured as a collection of computingdevices, e.g., servers, sited in one or more locations. The applicationserver 230 can include some or all of the features, components, andperipherals of computing device 100 of FIG. 1.

The application server 230 can also include a network connection to thecommunication network 210. The network connection can be implementedthrough a wired or wireless interface, and can support bi-directionalcommunication between the application server 230 and one or more othercomputing devices over the communication network 210. Further, theapplication server 230 can be configured to host one or moreapplications. For example, the application server 230 can be configuredto host a remote management application that facilitates communicationwith one or more mobile devices connected with the network 210. Themobile devices 240, 245 and the application server 230 can operatewithin a remote management framework to execute remote managementfunctions. The application server 230 can be configured to host anotification service application configured to support bi-directionalcommunication over the network 210 between multiple communicationdevices included in the computing system 200. For example, thenotification service application can permit a variety of messages to betransmitted and received by multiple computing devices.

In some implementations, the notification service can include a definednamespace, in which a unique command collection topic can be created foreach subscribing mobile device. A unique identifier can be used toassociate a subscribing mobile device with the corresponding commandcollection topic, such as an assigned number or address. The uniqueidentifier also can be embedded in a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)that is associated with a subscribed command collection topic. Further,one or more command nodes can be created below a command collectiontopic, such that each command node corresponds to a particular remotecommand type. For example, a command collection topic can include aseparate command node for a location command.

Through the use of separate command nodes, multiple commands can betransmitted to one or more mobile devices substantially simultaneously.In some implementations, if multiple commands are received in a commandcollection topic, server time stamps can be compared to determine anorder of execution.

Through the notification service, a publisher, such as a remotemanagement application, can publish a remote command message to acommand collection topic that is associated with a particular mobiledevice. When a remote command message is published to the commandcollection topic, a notification message can be transmitted to the oneor more subscribing mobile devices. The mobile device can then accessthe subscribed topic and retrieve one or more published messages. Thiscommunication between the publisher and the mobile device can bedecoupled. Further, the remote command message can be published to theappropriate command node of the command collection topic. Additionally,a mobile device receiving a remote command message can publish aresponse to a result topic hosted by a notification service. A publishersuch as a remote management application, can subscribe to the resulttopic and can receive any published response messages.

Further, the computing environment 200 can include one or more mobiledevices, such as mobile device 240 and mobile device 245. These mobiledevices are preferably smart phones such as an Apple iPhone® or post-pcdevice such as an Apple iPad®. Each of the mobile devices included inthe computing environment 200 can include a network interface configuredto establish a connection to the communication network 210. For example,mobile device 240 can establish a cellular (e.g., GSM, EDGE, 3G, or 4G)network connection that provides data access to the communicationnetwork 210. Such a connection may be facilitated by one or morecellular towers 250 located within the range of the mobile devices 240and 245 and connected to the network 210. Further, mobile device 245 canestablish an IEEE 802.11 (i.e., WiFi or WLAN) network connection to thecommunication network 210. Such a connection may be facilitated by oneor more wireless network routers 255 located within the range of themobile devices 240 and 245 and connected to the network 210. Also,either one of these mobile devices 240, 245 or an additional device mayconnect to the network 210 through the IEEE 802.16 (i.e., wirelessbroadband or WiBB) standard. Again, the devices 240, 245 may employ theassistance of a cell tower 250 or wireless router 255 to connect to thecommunication network 210.

Each of the mobile devices, 240 and 245 also can be configured tocommunicate with the notification service application hosted by theapplication server 230 to publish and receive messages. Further, each ofthe mobile devices 240 and 245 can be configured to execute a remotemanagement application or a remote management function responsive to aremote command received through the notification service application. Insome embodiments, the remote management application can be integratedwith the operating system of the mobile device.

A mobile device can execute a remote command to perform one or moreassociated functions. For example the remote commands can include locatecommands, notification commands, and message commands. A message commandcan be used to present a text-based message on the display of a mobiledevice. A locate command can be used to cause a mobile device totransmit a message indicating its location at the time the locatecommand is executed. The locate command may also command the mobiledevice to use certain resources, such as an embedded GPS system, todetermine its location.

Additionally, each of the mobile devices 240 and 245 can include aninput interface, through which one or more inputs can be received. Forexample, the input interface can include one or more of a keyboard, amouse, as joystick, a trackball, a touch pad, a keypad, a touch screen,a scroll wheel, general and special purpose buttons, a stylus, a videocamera, and a microphone. Each of the mobile devices 240 and 245 canalso include an output interface through which output can be presented,including one or more displays, one or more speakers, and a hapticinterface. Further, a location interface, such as a Global PositioningSystem (GPS) processor, also can be included in one or more of themobile devices 240 and 245 to receive and process signals sent from GPSsatellites 260 for obtaining location information, e.g., an indicationof current location. In some implementations, general or special purposeprocessors included in one or more of the mobile devices 240 and 245 canbe configured to perform location estimation, such as through basestation triangulation or through recognizing stationary geographicobjects through a video interface.

Having disclosed some basic system components and concepts, thedisclosure now turns to exemplary method embodiments 300 a and 300 bshown in FIGS. 3 a and 3 b respectively. For the sake of clarity, themethods are discussed in terms of an exemplary system 100 as shown inFIG. 1 configured to practice the methods and operating environmentshown in FIG. 2. The steps outlined herein are exemplary and can beimplemented in any combination thereof, including combinations thatexclude, add, or modify certain steps.

FIG. 3 a shows a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process executedby a server for servicing a request by a requesting device to locate oneor more mobile devices (requested devices), such as mobile devices 240and 245 in FIG. 2, connected to a communication network, such ascommunication network 210 in FIG. 2. The process may be performed by aserver such as application server 230 in FIG. 2.

In a preferred embodiment, the server 230 may maintain data associatedwith the members of one or more services. The maintained data mayinclude certain identification information relating to each member suchas, for example, the member's username and other personal identificationinformation, unique identification information relating to the member'sphone, and the identification of other members that have chosen to givepermission to share their location information with this member. Theinformation may also include recent location information of each member.This location information may be caused to be updated by certainapplications/processes on the member's mobile device and/or at therequest of a requesting device. For example, an application on a mobiledevice such as a mapping service or other location aware application maybe requested by the user to determine the location of the device and,whenever such a determination is made, the device may provide thisinformation to the application server. The server may then retain thisinformation in storage 335 a for a length of time that has been deemedto still be representative of that device's location (such as, forexample, 15 minutes or less).

In a preferred embodiment, a user/requester may have an application onhis or her computer or mobile device that, when executed, initiates oneor more locate requests to all of the devices whose members have agreedto share their location with the requester (the requestor's “friends”).In such embodiments, the application may initially present to theuser/requester the location of all of the friends on a map or in a list.The locate request 310 a may be received by a server such as applicationserver 210 in FIG. 2 for processing.

Upon receiving a location request from a mobile device 301 a of arequesting user, the server may initially respond with the location datathat it has cached in 335 a. As mentioned above, in a preferredembodiment, the application server may maintain and/or cache informationrelating to members of services including recent location information.Updates in location information preferably overwrite older locationinformation. Thus, the server may first, in step 315 a, determinewhether it is in possession of recent location information. As mentionedbefore, the server may have a set “time of life” for the locationinformation it maintains. When it has decided that the locationinformation is has is recent, in step 330 a, the server retrieves thelast known location from storage 335 a. Again, in some instances such aswhen a person may be on the go, only very recent location informationwould be relevant. Thus, some embodiments, the time of life of theinformation may be adjusted based on the device's recent locationactivity. Some examples might include when the owner of the device hasdesignated his/her location, such as home or work, where he/shetypically remains for several hours at a time each day. Thus, if theserver determines that it is in possession of location information ofthe requested mobile device deemed to be recent, it will provide thatinformation to the requesting device in step 360 a.

The server also preferably maintains this location information at arelatively low level of accuracy. The reason for this is similar to whythe location is only deemed relevant for a short period of time: themore accurate the location information is, the more likely the personhas since moved from that specific location, thereby rendering thelocation incorrect. Thus, maintaining recent location information at alower level of accuracy increases the likelihood that the location isstill correct and, therefore, not requiring additional communicationwith the user device.

Alternatively, the server may determine, in step 315 a, that it does nothave recent location information relating to the requested device. Theserver may, in step 320 a, send a location request to the one or morerequested devices (i.e., those devices associated with the friends). Inthis step, the server transmits a location request message to eachrequested device. The message sent by the server may take on any numberof forms but has the effect of commanding the requested mobile device toobtain its current location information and transmit it back to theserver in the form of a response message. In some alternativeembodiments, the server only sends a location request message to thecellular network system, which may continually maintain recent locationinformation relating to the requested device. Such location informationmay include, for example, the coordinates of the cell sites deemedclosest to the requested device.

Some time after sending the request in step 320 a, server receivesresponses in step 340 a. Depending on, for example, the location of therequested devices and the network traffic, the responses may arrive inany order and may take different amounts of time. The response messagesfrom the devices preferably include information relating to the locationof the responding device and the time at which the location wasdetermined.

This location information may be determined by the device in any numberof ways including but not limited to those that have been discussedabove. This information may even be obtained indirectly (i.e., notdirectly from the requested device), such as from the cellularcommunications network to which the device is communicating. Forexample, obtaining location information from the cell tower identifiedas being closest to the mobile device. Although this option may be oflower accuracy, it oftentimes may result in a quicker response and asavings in battery life for the requested device. Accordingly, the levelof accuracy of the location information may vary. Thus, the locationinformation may therefore include accuracy information as well.

In some embodiments, the owner of the responding device may have theoption to enter unique location identifiers or labels associated with alocation. For example, a user may assign labels such as “home,” “work,”or “school” to such locations. The user's mobile device may preferablyassociate certain geographic coordinates with such a label and transmitlocation-based messages to the server including the associated label.

Upon receiving this information, in step 350 a, the server preferablyupdates the stored information 335 a, if any, that it maintains relatingto the device's last known location so that it may be made available tothe next requester.

Having received a response from a requested device, in step 360 a, theserver may then send location information to the requesting device. Thisstep may be performed for each response received by the server from thevarious requested devices. Although location information relating tosome devices may have already been retrieved from cache 335 a in step330 a, the server may additionally request and send updated informationto the requesting device. In some embodiments, the server mayadditionally have a step (not shown) to compare the “known locationinformation” that it had initially sent to the requesting device withthe location information that it just received from the requested deviceto determine if sending the recently received location information wouldbe any different. In other words, some embodiments would only sendlocation information to the requesting device if the location of therequested device has changed. In such embodiments, a reduction in theamount of data that needs to be communicated may be realized.

In addition to temporal accuracy, the server may also have logic todetermine how to handle a location request having a certain geographiclocation accuracy. FIG. 3 b shows a flow diagram illustrating anexemplary process 300 b executed by a server for servicing a request bya requesting device to locate one or more mobile devices within acertain level of accuracy.

In a preferred embodiment, in step 310 b, the server receives a requestto acquire location information relating to a requested device at acertain acceptable level of accuracy (accuracy y). In a preferredembodiment, the server typically only maintains, in storage 335 b,location information relating to devices at one level of accuracy(accuracy x). After receiving the request, in step 315 b, the serverdetermines whether the accuracy of the location information it has instorage 335 b is greater than or equal to the accuracy requested by therequesting device (i.e., accuracy x≧accuracy y). If so, the level ofaccuracy is deemed acceptable and, in step 330 b, the server retrievesthe stored location information and, in step 360 b, sends the locationinformation to the requested device.

More typically, however, when the server receives a request for locationinformation of a requested device, the requested accuracy (accuracy y)is greater than the accuracy of the information stored in 335 b(accuracy x) (i.e, accuracy y>accuracy x). When this is determined instep 315 b, the server sends a request to the requested device in step320 b. This request may be in several different forms. For example, theserver may simply transmit the contents of the request to the requesteddevice, containing the requested accuracy information, and leave it tothe requested device (through its hardware, operating system, andapplications) to determine how to respond to the request. Alternatively,the server may have sufficient information relating to the capabilitiesof the requested device (such as it having a GPS antenna of a certainaccuracy) and the message sent is simply a command to determine itslocation using its GPS antenna and send this information to the server.The server, in step 340 b, then receives the location information fromthe requested device. Again, this information may be in severaldifferent forms and may depend on the device information known by theserver. For example, the response may include accuracy informationprovided by the requested device or may simply include the location andthe means by which it was obtained. In the latter form, the server,preferably knowing the model features of the requested device, may thendetermine the accuracy provided by the requested device. Also, dependingon the request sent by the server, the means information may not beprovided in the response but may be implied by the server as the same aswhat was requested. Once the location information is received by theserver, in step 350 b, it updates its stored location information, 335b, and sends location information to the requesting device in step 360b.

Generally, the location information that is handled is of a lowaccuracy, such as at a city level or within a few miles of accuracy. Asmentioned above, such information may be obtained by the serverindirectly by, for example, knowing the geographic location of the cellphone tower or ISP to which the requested device is communicating. It isgenerally understood that mobile phones communicating with a cellularcommunications network periodically seek out cell sites having thestrongest signal. In many cases, the strongest signals are measured bythose cells that are the shortest distance away. Thus, in an area wherethere is a cell-phone tower every 4 miles, for example, the location ofthe mobile device may be extrapolated to be within 2 miles of theclosest cell tower. A more accurate method of determining the locationof a mobile device may be by determining the time difference of arrival(TDOA). The TDOA technique works based on trilateration by measuring thetime of arrival of a mobile station radio signal at three or moreseparate cell sites. Such a method may be based on the availability ofcertain equipment supplied by the cellular network which may not beuniversally available and is therefore only an alternative embodiment.In either case, the location/accuracy determination may be performed bythe communications network rather than by the mobile device. Such lowaccuracy information may preferably be transmitted by the server to therequesting device initially to give the device user a quick read onwhere his or her friends are located. The actions associated withobtaining such low accuracy information is herein referred to as a“shallow locate.”

Such low accuracy (i.e., less accuracy) location requests are onlyapproximations but are preferably made initially, as they may result inthe fastest response and require fewer resources from the requesteddevice. On the other hand, a “deep locate request” may be requested by auser of a requesting device to obtain location information of arelatively higher accuracy (i.e., more accurate) from the requesteddevice. For example, a “deep locate request” may command the requesteddevice to use its GPS location resources to obtain location informationhaving a level of accuracy that may be greater than that of some of theother location methods discussed above. While using a device featuresuch as GPS may be more accurate, the time and resources required toobtain signals from a sufficient number of GPS satellites and calculatethe location oftentimes may take longer and require more energy. Thus,the “deep locate request” option is preferably reserved for specificrequests made by the user of the requesting device.

This concept of a “shallow locate request” and a “deep locate request”is further illustrated from the perspective of the requesting device,such as a mobile device, in exemplary method 400 of FIG. 4. In apreferred embodiment, method 400 begins with step 410 when theapplication is started on a mobile device. Initially, in step 420, thedevice may request location information of all friends that areassociated with the user. This initial request is preferably a “shallowlocate request” that is sent out to all of the “friend” devices (i.e.,devices whose owners have allowed the requester to obtain locationinformation). This request is sent to the server where it may be passedonto the requested device or serviced by the server, or both, asdiscussed above. Requesting device may then, in step 430, receiveresponses containing the shallow locations of its user's friends. As theresponses are received, requesting device may display the locations ofthe friends to the user in step 440.

As individuals are often on the go, it is of value to the requestinguser to occasionally have the location information of friends updatedfrom time to time. The updating or refreshing of location information,performed in step 450, may be done automatically at predeterminedintervals, such as every 15 seconds or 15 minutes, and/or may be done atthe request of the user. These predetermined timing intervals may beconsistently applied to every user or may be individually applied toeach user differently based on the individual user's observed momentfrequency in combination with the heuristics of observed generaluser-movement data (e.g., determine a shorter time interval for a userobserved to be traveling on a highway but determine a longer timeinterval for a user who has “checked-in” to a location such as arestaurant). As is shown in method 400, a refresh step 450 will operateto repeat a request for shallow location information of all of theuser's friends.

In addition to requesting and obtaining shallow location information ofall of the user's friends, the user may request and obtain more detailedor “deep” location information of one or more friends, beginning in step460. To perform a “deep locate request,” in a preferred embodiment theuser may select a friend that has been presented to the user after ashallow locate request. In this preferred embodiment, a deep locaterequest is sent to the server which will send a command to the requesteddevice to provide more detailed location information. This request mayinclude commanding the device to obtain accurate location informationfrom its GPS system. Upon the receipt of the response in step 470, therequesting device may display the deep location of the friend to theuser in step 480. The accuracy of the deep location may also bedisplayed to the requesting user.

One way a user may gain authorization to obtain location information ofa device associated with a friend is shown by method 500 in FIG. 5. Inmost embodiments, in order for a user to be able to locate a friend,that user must send an authorization request to the friend. A user maydo this by, in step 510, selecting a friend to request authorization. Ina preferred embodiment, the locating application may refer to or relyupon other applications on the user's device to maintain information ofthe user's friends. One example may be an address book application thatstores contact information of persons known by the device user. Thesepersons may include, friends, family members, business contacts, andothers whose contact information the user has obtained. In the casewhere the particular person is not in the user's address book, the usermay be able to enter that person's contact information directly into therunning application. Upon selecting/entering a contact to locate, instep 520, an authorization request is prepared and sent from the user'sdevice.

Upon receiving a request from a user, the requested person (i.e.,“friend”) is preferably presented with a message explaining the natureof the request and where he or she may either accept the request orreject the request. When the friend accepts the request in step 530, anacceptance response is sent from that friend's device in step 540. Uponreceiving an accepting response, the server may update the informationit maintains on either or both the requesting user and accepting friendsuch that when the user sends a location request, the server willprocess that request in step 550. In addition, a notice may be sent bythe server back to the requesting user to indicate to the user and/orthe user's device that the authorization request has been accepted.Accordingly, the user may now obtain location information relating tothat friend. In a preferred embodiment, the friend may revoke theauthorization given to the user at any time; thus, the friend maintainscontrol over the privacy of his or her location information.

On the other hand, a friend who has received a request to authorize theuser to locate him or her but has rejected or ignored the request instep 560 may not be able to obtain location information relating to thatfriend. Thus, if the user subsequently attempts to locate that friend,in step 570, both the device and the server will not process thatrequest. From the requesting user and device perspective, such a friendwould be displayed as having a status of “awaiting a response,” locationnot available,” or simply will not be listed. Of course, in someembodiments, the user may be able to send another request to the friendsubsequently.

FIGS. 6-20 show a series of “screen shots” of preferred embodiments ofthe present disclosure as they might be viewed on a mobile device, suchas the iPhone® or iPad®, both by Apple, Inc. One skilled in the art willappreciate that while the preferred embodiments are shown on theseparticular Apple products, the location application may be employed onany type of mobile device, smart phone, post-pc device, laptop computer,or desktop computer.

FIG. 6 illustrates an interface window 600 that is presented to a userwhen he or she initially runs the location program. In this window, theuser may be prompted to enter his or her user ID 610 and password 620associated with an account that the user has presumably alreadyestablished with the location service. After entering a user ID andpassword, the user may select the “sign in” button 630 to authenticateand run the program. If the user has not yet created an account, theuser may do so by selecting button 640.

As shown in FIG. 7, when the user logs in for the first time, he may bepresented with a screen 700 prompting him or her to invite friends toshare their location. To invite a friend to share their location, a usermay tap on the “+” button 710 to open a screen to select friends toinvite. A more detailed explanation of these actions is in thediscussion associated with FIGS. 11-16 below.

On the other hand, FIG. 8 shows what a user may likely immediately seewhen logging in after having several friends accept the user'sinvitation to share their location. As shown in FIG. 8, a list offriends 800 is displayed to the user. Next to a displayed friend'sinformation 810 is a locating status indicator 820. In this case, thestatus is that the device has sent out location requests to all of thefriends' devices and is still waiting for responses from each of thedevices.

After a brief time has elapsed and the device has received locationinformation relating to the user's friends, the location information maybe presented to the user in display interface 900, as shown in FIG. 9.As can be seen in FIG. 9, the friend information 910 may now include thelocation of the friend 920, the accuracy of the location information930, and the time at which the location information was obtained 940.The location 920 may be presented in a number of ways. For example,location information 920 includes a label that was selected by the user.Alternatively, the location information may include the name of the townor an address at which the friend is located, as in 950. Additionally,when a location request was not successful, the display 900 may presenta message similar to that of 960.

FIG. 10 shows an alternative embodiment of displaying locationinformation of friends. As is shown in FIG. 10, map interface 1000 ispresented. In a preferred embodiment, the initial scale of map interface1000 may be determined by the identified locations of each of the user'sfriends such that all of the user's friends may be viewed on one screen.Thus, if all of the user's friends are located within a few miles fromeach other, the scale of map interface 1000 may be zoomed in such thatonly a few miles (i.e., a city level) are presented. On the other hand,if the user's friends are located across the country or in othercountries, the scale of the map may be zoomed out such that mapinterface 1000 is covering hundreds or even thousands of miles (i.e., astate level).

Referring again to FIG. 10, the user is presented with locations of hisor her friends on map 1000. In a preferred embodiment, the locations ofthe friends are presented as dots 1010 and 1020. However, any other iconor other reasonable method of indicating the location of a person on aninteractive map may be used. When the user selects one of the dots,information relating to the friend at that location appears, as is shownin dot 1010. Additionally, the accuracy information may also begraphically presented on the map in the form of a shaded circlesurrounding the friend's dot with a radius equivalent to the level ofaccuracy provided, as is shown in dot 1010.

FIGS. 11 and 12 show alternative embodiments of the present invention.Such embodiments may be ideal for use on a device that has a largerscreen, such as an iPad, laptop, or desktop computer. In FIG. 11,interface 1100 displays both a listing of the user friends in a tableformat 1100 as well as their geographic location on a map 1120. Ininterface 1100, when a user selects one of his or her friends 1130 onthe map 1120, details relating to the location of the friend may appearat the bottom of the map 1140. Similarly, in FIG. 12, which provides aninterface in a different aspect ratio, interface 1200 presents to theuser a map 1220 indicating the geographic locations of his or herfriends 1225. Overlaying the map is a list of the user's friends intable 1210. Similar to interface 1100, when the user selects one of hisor her friends within table 1210, details of that friend may bedisplayed at the bottom of the display 1240.

When a user wishes to send to a friend an invitation to share theirlocation, “Add Friend” interface 1300, as shown in FIG. 13, may be used.In interface 1300, the user may enter the contact information of thefriend/invitee at 1310 and may also include an optional personal messageat 1320. As mentioned above, the contact information may be obtainedfrom other services or applications located on the user's device, as isshown in contacts list 1400 in FIG. 14.

FIG. 15 shows a completed add friend request form 1500 with the name ofthe contact (preferably an embedded link to the contact's e-mailaddress, phone number, or other relevant contact information) entered at1510. Also shown is a brief personal message 1520.

FIG. 16 shows one way a friend may be notified that he or she hasreceived an invitation to share their location with the requesting userin window 1600. As presented to the friend in window 1600, the user mayeither view the invitation immediately by selecting button 1610 or maychoose to view the invitation at a later time by selecting button 1620.Note that this notification may preferably be in the form of asystem-based message that provides notification regardless of anyparticular application currently running.

When the friend selects to view the invitation, he or she is presentedwith a request message 1700, as shown in FIG. 17. In request message1700, the invitation preferably includes the name of the inviter 1710and a brief personal message 1720. In addition, the invitation mayinclude an accept button 1730 and a decline button 1740.

Referring now to FIG. 18, a mobile device user may maintain certainitems associated with his or her account in interface 1800. In interface1800, a user may, for example set a label 1810 to his or her presentlocation in field 1820. A user may also review the list of followers1830 which include all of the friends whom he or she has acceptedinvitations to be followed. A user may additionally select to hide fromall of his or her followers by toggling switch 1840.

With respect to assigning labels to certain locations, interface 1900 ofFIG. 19 may be presented to a user for this purpose. In interface 1900,a user may select one of the prepared labels 1910 or may add a customlabel by entering text into field 1930. The current label in use isshown in field 1920. In addition to the prepared labels 1910 ininterface 1900, additional location-specific label options may beautomatically added, as is shown in interface 2000 in FIG. 20. As isshown in FIG. 20, location label 2010 has been added to the list ofprepared location labels. A label such as label 2010 may be added whenthe user is determined to be located in the vicinity of a Starbucks forexample.

To further explain certain embodiments in this disclosure, the followinguse scenarios are presented to show how certain users of mobile devicesmay be able to use one or more embodiments in the disclosure to locatehis or her friends.

One scenario may occur when a mobile device user is located somewhere,say downtown Palo Alto, at noon and wants to know if any of his friendsare in the vicinity and are available for a quick lunch. The user may beable to use an embodiment in the present disclosure to see the locationof his or her friends, identify one that is close by, and subsequentlymake contact.

A second scenario may arise when there is a need or desire by users ofmobile devices to allow others to know where they are at certain times.One such situation is where a mobile device user may, for example, betraining for a marathon and is outside running for miles each day. Thisuser wishes to have her partner aware of her location during this periodof time so that she can always be located in case something happens andmay therefore benefit from embodiments in this disclosure. Also, whenthis person is actually participating in the marathon, her friends maywant to know at what part of the course she has made it to so that theymay be able to be present at certain locations during the race to cheerher on. In such a scenario, the user would benefit from embodiments ofthe disclosure having a map of the race course superimposed onto astreet map of the area such that the users may be able to see thelocation of the runner and have some indication about the location whereshe will be heading to next.

A third scenario may arise when users of mobile devices wish to receivean indication that someone has reached a certain location. In such ascenario, one user of a mobile device may, for example, be embarking ona road trip and another person wants to be notified when he or she hasarrived. Such a scenario might include a parent who is allowing herteenage son to take the family car on a holiday weekend to drive tovisit his cousins that live several hours away. Although the parent hasasked that the son call as soon as he arrives, he is often forgetful anddoes not do so. To overcome this, the parent or son may take advantageof an embodiment of the present disclosure where they may set an alertto automatically notify the parent when the son has arrived at thedestination. In the interim, the parent may additionally use otherembodiments to manually locate the son's mobile device to make sure thathe has not gotten lost.

A fourth scenario may arise when users of mobile devices wish to receivea notification when someone has entered a certain geographic location.For example, a person commutes to and from the city using publictransportation but does not live in walking distance to the train or busstop. Rather than driving and parking, the person may rely on a spouseor partner to pick her up in the evenings or whenever there is inclementweather. As certain busses and train cars have rules and courtesiesprohibiting talking on cell phones, the commuter may have to wait tocall her spouse or partner until after she arrives and subsequentlyhaving to wait, for example, in the rain. The users would benefit fromsome embodiments of the disclosure that would allow for a way for thecommuter's mobile device to notify her partner's device whenever sheenters into a certain geographic region (i.e., is close to arriving atthe bus or train stop) without requiring the commuter to place a call.Thus, the commuter and her partner may both arrive to the stop close tothe same time.

Similarly, a fifth scenario includes users having certain householdappliances that may be connected to a network and can perform certaintasks upon receiving a notification when a person enters a certain area.For example, when a person is traveling to her vacation home out in themountains, certain appliances in the vacation home such as, for example,the furnace and front porch light, may turn on when the person entersinto a certain geographic area (i.e., gets close to the home). Anembodiment of this disclosure would enable a user to have and benefitfrom such a configuration.

A sixth scenario may arise when someone wishes to receive a notificationwhen a mobile device user has left a certain geographic location. Forexample, a parent has asked his daughter to stay at home for the weekendto finish a school assignment that is due the following Monday. If thedaughter leaves the neighborhood with her mobile device, the parent maybe notified. Aspects of the disclosed technology would enable a parentto receive such notifications.

A seventh scenario may arise when some mobile device users wish to belocated for only a brief period of time. For example, a person is on abusiness trip in a city and wants to be able to meet up for dinner withan old friend who lives in that city. Since she is not normally in thatcity and does not often interact with this old friend, she does not wantthe old friend to be able to locate her all the time. One embodiment ofthe disclosure employs a “day pass” which the person may send to the oldfriend to allow the old friend to locate her for the next 24 hours.After that time, the day pass is expired and the old friend may not beable to locate the person anymore.

In an eighth scenario, a user may select a number of persons in hercontact list to all share location information with each other for alimited period of time. For example, a user is in town to attend aconference such as Apple's WWDC. The user knows that some people thatshe knows are also attending the conference and she would like to knowtheir whereabouts during the event. One embodiment of the disclosureenables this user to send an invitation to the persons that she wants tolocate at the conference. When the user's acquaintances accept herinvitation, she and the acquaintances will be able to locate each other.Certain limits on this ability to locate each other may be set by auser, however, such as certain windows of time during the day (such as,only during the conference), or until an expiration time.

FIGS. 21-24 disclose the configuration of certain interfaces that may beused to share location information until an expiration time and may beused, for example, during a scenario such as the one explained inscenario eight. FIG. 21 displays one embodiment of an invitationinterface screen in which the user may configure and send an invitationto friends to share their location. The user may add friends to theinvitation by tapping the “+” button 2120, similar to the one describedin FIG. 7. The friends that have been added to the invitation may bedisplayed on the screen 2110 to indicate that they have been added,similar to that of a “To:” line in a composed e-mail. FIG. 21 shows thatthe user has added two friends to the invitation, as their names; “JaredGosler” and “Susan Adams” are displayed.

In the exemplary interface shown in FIG. 21, the user may also, forexample, relate the invitation to enter a particular event 2130 and setan expiration time 2140. However other configuration options such assetting an applicable geographical area and other time constraints mayalso be offered. In FIG. 21, the user has related the invitation to the“WWDC” conference and set an expiration time to be “Fri, Jun 10 at10AM.” In some embodiments, the relating of the invitation to aparticular event may enable the users to have access to certain maps andwireless access ports hosted by the particular event, which may, forexample, offer more accurate non-GPS location information (i.e.,specific conference rooms). The expiration time sets a limit on how longthe user and the invited friends may share location information.

FIG. 22 shows an alert that an invited friend may receive upon receivingan invitation to share location information sent by the user. A messagebox 2210 may be displayed providing notification of the request to thefriend. The text 2220 of the request may explain that the friend hasbeen invited to share location information with the user and anotherperson (Susan Adams) until the set expiration time. In this embodimentthe message box 2210 includes buttons to enable the device user to closethe message box or view the invitation. In other embodiments the messagebox may also include additional or different buttons to accept, ignore,or reject the invitation.

FIG. 23 shows an exemplary embodiment displaying an invitation. Thisinvitation may include the related event 2310 and text 2320 explainingthe details of the request to share location information including theset expiration time . The names of all parties invited to share locationinvitation and their response status 2330, 2340, and 2350 may also bedisplayed. As illustrated, a check mark may be placed next to a person'sname to indicate that the person has accepted the invitation. Similarly,a question mark may be displayed next to a person's name to indicatethat the person has not yet replied to the invitation and so it is stilluncertain whether they will accept the invitation. If a person declinesthe invitation, an X may be displayed next to their name to indicatetheir decision to not share location information. This may also indicatethat the person is not in the geographic area of the conference and/or,in some cases, has not checked in. Upon receipt of an invitation, adevice user may decline or accept by selecting one of the availableoptions 2360 and 2370.

FIG. 24 illustrates an embodiment showing what a user would likely seewhen the user selects to view the temporary friend 2460 and afterinvited friends have accepted a user's invitation to share limited-timelocation information. As shown in FIG. 24, there is an event 2410, WWDC,associated with the sharing of this location information. As mentionedabove, in some embodiments, certain additional features may becomeavailable when the locate is associate with a particular hosted event,like connecting to local geo-coded access ports and receivingnotifications from the event organizer. Alternatively or in addition,entering the event name and associating the locate with an event maysimply auto-fill information such as the end time of the conference orevent. Here, the end time 2420 of the locate permission is shown toexpire on June 10 at 10am. Information relating to the friends that haveaccepted a temporary locate request is shown on this display 2430 a,2430 b. Similar to the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, the friendinformation may include, among other things, the name of the friend,their last known location and time of that last known location.Preferably specific to associating requests to a particular event, auser may be able to contact all of the other users on the list byclicking on a a button to send a group message 2440. This button, whenselected, may allow the user to compose one message which will be sentto each friend who accepted the invitation to share locationinformation. The user may also select a button to view a map 2450 which,when selected, may display an overhead map which indicates each friend'slocation upon it. As mentioned above, the map may be a typical locationmap or may be a map customized and associated with the related event(i.e., a map showing the rooms inside of the Moscone Center and YerbaBuena Center).

As described above, one aspect of the present technology is thegathering and use of data available from a user's mobile device. Thepresent disclosure contemplates that in some instances, this gathereddata may include personal information data that uniquely identifies orcan be used to contact or locate a specific person. Such personalinformation data can include hardware information relating to the userdevice, location-based data, telephone numbers, email addresses, socialmedia IDs such as TWITTER IDs, work and home addresses, friends, or anyother identifying information. The user typically enters this data whenestablishing an account and/or during the use of the application.

The present disclosure recognizes that the use of such personalinformation data in the present technology can be used to the benefit ofusers. In addition to being necessary to provide the core feature of thepresent technology (i.e., locating users), the personal information datacan also be used to better understand user behavior and facilitate andmeasure the effectiveness applications. Further, other uses for personalinformation data that benefit the user are also contemplated by thepresent disclosure.

The present disclosure further contemplates that the entitiesresponsible for the collection, analysis, disclosure, transfer, storage,or other use of such personal information data should implement andconsistently use privacy policies and practices that are generallyrecognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmental requirementsfor maintaining personal information data private and secure. Forexample, personal information from users should be collected forlegitimate and reasonable uses of the entity and not shared or soldoutside of those legitimate uses. Further, such collection should occuronly after the informed consent of the users. Additionally, suchentities would take any needed steps for safeguarding and securingaccess to such personal information data and ensuring that others withaccess to the personal information data adhere to their privacy andsecurity policies and procedures. Further, such entities can subjectthemselves to evaluation by third parties to certify their adherence towidely accepted privacy policies and practices.

Despite the foregoing, the present disclosure also contemplatesembodiments in which users selectively block the use of, or access to,personal information data. That is, the present disclosure contemplatesthat hardware and/or software elements can be provided to prevent orblock access to such personal information data. For example, in the caseof location aware services, the present technology can be configured toallow users to select to “opt in” or “opt out” of participation in thesending of personal information data. The present disclosure alsocontemplates that other methods or technologies may exist for blockingaccess to user's personal information data.

Embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure may also includetangible and/or non-transitory computer-readable storage media forcarrying or having computer-executable instructions or data structuresstored thereon. Such non-transitory computer-readable storage media canbe any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose orspecial purpose computer, including the functional design of any specialpurpose processor as discussed above. By way of example, and notlimitation, such non-transitory computer-readable media can include RAM,ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storageor other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be usedto carry or store desired program code means in the form ofcomputer-executable instructions, data structures, or processor chipdesign. When information is transferred or provided over a network oranother communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, orcombination thereof) to a computer, the computer properly views theconnection as a computer-readable medium. Thus, any such connection isproperly termed a computer-readable medium. Combinations of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of the computer-readable media.

Computer-executable instructions include, for example, instructions anddata which cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer,or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function orgroup of functions. Computer-executable instructions also includeprogram modules that are executed by computers in stand-alone or networkenvironments. Generally, program modules include routines, programs,components, data structures, objects, and the functions inherent in thedesign of special-purpose processors, etc. that perform particular tasksor implement particular abstract data types. Computer-executableinstructions, associated data structures, and program modules representexamples of the program code means for executing steps of the methodsdisclosed herein. The particular sequence of such executableinstructions or associated data structures represents examples ofcorresponding acts for implementing the functions described in suchsteps.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that other embodiments of thedisclosure may be practiced in network computing environments with manytypes of computer system configurations, including personal computers,hand-held devices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based orprogrammable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframecomputers, and the like. Embodiments may also be practiced indistributed computing environments where tasks are performed by localand remote processing devices that are linked (either by hardwiredlinks, wireless links, or by a combination thereof) through acommunications network. In a distributed computing environment, programmodules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

The various embodiments described above are provided by way ofillustration only and should not be construed to limit the scope of thedisclosure. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize variousmodifications and changes that may be made to the principles describedherein without following the example embodiments and applicationsillustrated and described herein, and without departing from the spiritand scope of the disclosure.

1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, from arequesting device, a request for a location of one or more requesteddevices; determining whether the request for the location requires arelatively accurate response, or only an approximate response; andsending a shallow locate request to the requested devices when it isdetermined that the request for location requires only an approximateresponse.
 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein theshallow locate request comprises an acceptable accuracy rangeinstruction.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein theshallow locate request can be interpreted by the receiving device to befulfilled without using an available global positioning system device.4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request forlocation is determined to only require an approximate response when therequest is for the location of multiple requested devices.
 5. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request for locationof the identified device is the first request within a determined periodof time.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving, from the requesting device, a request forpermission to receive location information relating to a requesteddevice.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein therequest for permission is for a set period of time.
 8. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising: receiving,from the requested device, permission to receive location informationrelating to the requested device.
 9. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 7, wherein the permission to receive location information relatingto a requested device is for a set period of time.
 10. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: determiningwhether the requesting device has permission to receive locationinformation relating to each requested device.
 11. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: determiningwhether the requesting device has permission to receive locationinformation relating to each requested device.
 12. A system comprising:a server configured to receive a request for location information of arequested device, to determine whether an unexpired location is storedin a cache for the requested device, and to issue a location request tothe requested device; and the requested device is configured to receivethe location request, interpret the request for an acceptable accuracy,to determine its location using a less accurate, lower power mechanismwhen the location requests acceptable accuracy permits, and sending alocation response to the server.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein thelocation request, issued by the server, is a shallow location request.14. The system of claim 12, wherein the server is further configured toprocess the received request for location with a shallow locateheuristic, wherein, the server determines that an approximate locationof the friend's device will satisfy the received request.
 15. The systemof claim 12, wherein the location response comprises a location and anaccuracy delta.
 16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstoring instructions which, when executed by a computing device, causethe computing device to perform a method comprising: receiving, by aserver, a location request from a requesting device, wherein thelocation request calls for a geographic location of a requested device;applying a shallow locate heuristic to determine whether the request canbe answered with an approximate location; sending a shallow locationrequest when the shallow locate heuristic determines that the requestcan be answered with an approximate location; receiving the locationresponse from the requested device; sending the current geographiclocation information to the requesting device.
 17. The instructions ofclaim 16, wherein the location request, issued by the server, is ashallow location request.
 18. The instructions of claim 16, wherein theserver is further configured to process the received request forlocation with a shallow locate heuristic, wherein, the server determinesthat an approximate location of the friend's device will satisfy thereceived request.
 19. The instructions of claim 16, wherein the locationresponse comprises a location and an accuracy delta.
 20. Theinstructions of claim 16, wherein the request for location of theidentified device is the first request within a determined period oftime.
 21. The instructions of claim 20, further comprising: receiving,from the requested device, permission to receive location informationrelating to the requested device.
 22. The instructions of claim 21,wherein the permission to receive location information relating to arequested device is for a set period of time.
 23. The instructions ofclaim 16, further comprising: determining whether the requesting devicehas permission to receive location information relating to eachrequested device.